The maniacal Clown Prince of Crime is finally cured of his insanity and tries to right his wrongs by saving Gotham City from Batman!

On the gates of Arkham Asylum, a Batmobile stops by and a person comes out of it to meet a patient, Batman. The guards escort him inside and as they update the man named Jack Napier about The Dark Knight, he simply asks the imprisoned vigilante to help him.

Flashback to a year prior, The Joker was on the run as Batman was chasing him in his Batmobile throughout the city with Batgirl at his side. During the pursuit, the clown makes him endanger public life by making him recklessly go through construction sites and rooftops. Nightwing saves a worker on the go and even one security guard was knocked off by the Bat when he was fanatically chasing the clown.

Following a brief taunting, these two arch-enemies start a fight in an empty building of the industrial district where the clown argues about the duality of their relationship and how his sanity is kept in check by fighting crime. At one point he pushes Batman too far pointing out the tragedy of his life and the young sidekicks only to be beaten more viciously.

The Joker takes out some pills he believes will cure him and the Caped Crusader shoved the whole package down his throat in front of GCPD, Jim Gordon, Det. Harvey Bullock and Renee Montoya, effectively leaving him chocked while a woman filmed the scene.

The city breaks out in two fractions; some arguing over condemning Batman after the Hail Mary chase he put throughout Gotham and some still believing in him after the video of their fight was leaked and gone viral. Even Gordon and Bullock argues on whether they are on the right side before Batgirl arrives to check on the condition of the clown.

Bruce is confronted by Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon in Wayne Manor about his recent display of near-psychotic fits of rage, because his behavior doesn't seem alright. He then opens a secret door to passage downstairs where they see a dying Alfred Pennyworth lying on a bed and Bruce has enlisted the help of Victor Fries AKA Mister Freeze.

While he is deeply upset about his father-figure lying in a dying state, he goes back to check on Joker and then leaves abruptly. Jim Gordon meets the mayor in City Hall and Doctor Leslie Thompkins gives her report on the patient, Jack Napier has recovered and fully sane now. Although Gordon suspects that he is faking it, Leslie confirms him it to be otherwise.

Batman – White Knight | Comics

With his newfound sanity, he is also working full-time on his legal case to file charges against Batman and GCPD. In a meeting with the cops, he gets out of his handcuffs and calmly explains how he can pin charges against them if he wants by going to trial, which he will win and claims that he is going to save Gotham from Batman as its White Knight.

In his trial, Jack Napier opens up about his recovery and how he was always a criminal who started with a bank robbery but was accused of committing murder or at least, the police never could show any evidence and been labeled as a super-criminal anyway.

He accuses the gatekeepers of Gotham to use his unstable mental condition as an excuse to scare the taxpaying Gothamites and used him as a source of revenue. With that, he walks free from trial due to lack of evidence and vows to eradicate vigilantism from the city.

He then goes back to Harley Quinn and although joyous to see him, she is almost immediately disgusted to see him not a psycho in makeup anymore. Napier apologizes to her for his years of abuse and negligence before proposing to marry her to make things right. She gut-punched him to the floor, only get kicked off by Harleen Quinzel.

It seems Harley left long ago and now came back to take him back with Bud and Lou. They catch up on their old days that are full of excitement but she was always blindsided by his obsession with The Dark Knight. Things went too far when Harley found him torturing Robin down in their basement and contacted Batman to get help without delay.

He beats down the maniac with an inch of his life before sending him to Arkham but they never found Jason Todd, ever. Even Napier couldn't remember what he really did to the Boy Wonder as The Joker. He wants to move on asks her help to rebuild Gotham together.

He calls for a meeting of his former colleagues including Baby Doll, Bane, Killer Croc, Penguin, Poison Ivy, Roxy Rocket, Scarecrow, Scarface/Ventriloquist, The Riddler and Two Face only to trick them into becoming his mind-controlled puppets with hat of Mad Hatter, by using Clayface as a signal conduit for a grand scheme to frame the Caped Crusader.

As planned, he unleashed an army of super-villains on the streets and police gave them chase before the Bat-Family arrived on scene. Wrecking havoc throughout the city, they are lured to the planned site of a library for Backport and it collapsed onto Batman. He came out badly injured and his life was saved at a great cost of a loved one.

Refusing to let go of the chance for Jack Napier to embrace The Joker persona once again, the Harley pretender suits up in an all-new avatar to get her lover back and finds out about the scheme Jack is playing and with help from Hatter, she managed to turn the tables.

Apparently, the pretender was a depressed banker named Marian Drews, who met The Joker during a bank robbery and became a part of his life. Now that he is gone, she intends to get him back and debuts as Neo Joker. She unleashes a crisis on Gotham that even Jack Napier sees no other way to save the city without the help of his archenemy.

For more information on this limited series, you can check out the link below.

The long-running debate regarding the vigilante methods of Batman has crossed a few lines and it helped The Joker/Jack Napier to portray as a villain. Harleen Quinzel also played an important role to the overall plot and a huge ensemble of villains from Gotham showed up for a major clash with the Bat-Family and members of GCPD.

Unexpected Peace Offering

A fine nod to the poorly received Batman and Robin movie from 1997 and "The Dark Knight Returns" graphic novel are probably there regarding the fate of the trusted Wayne family butler Alfred Pennyworth. Pivotal elements from another popular storyline, "A Death in the Family" subtly played an influence for the ongoing Batman/Joker antagonism over the undisclosed fate of Jason Todd and unveiled new twist.

It appears that, Murphy took great inspiration from the popular TV show of 90's, Batman: The Animated Series and some classic characters like Baby Doll, Roxy Rocket and Veronica Vreeland appeared in the story, reimagined with almost same appearance resembling to the series. The sleek and edgy drawing style of Murphy was an overall refresher and was very well suited match to the dark tone of the story.
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In a war between The Joker and Riddler, The Dark Knight tries his best to save Gotham City from burning down.

Following Batman's debut as a vigilante on Gotham City, he successfully decreased the increasing crime rate of the city by putting many super criminals behind bars. During the second year of his crime-fighting, one of his archenemy named Red Hood One came back and became known as The Joker.

He went on a senseless killing spree of comedians who was unable to make him laugh and no one could figure out why. Commissioner Gordon tried to apprehend the madman but more civilian died as well as his own men during his attempts.

Stuck inside of GCPD, master strategist and evil genius Riddler had became a means to solve crimes for them. Thinking he has solved the riddle of Joker's massive killings, he decides to escape and he did so by threatening the confronting group of guards of knowing about their loved ones.

He finds Joker and suggests that they team up to beat Batman together as the clown has lost the ability to laugh because of always being halted by him. The Joker shot him in the stomach after dismissing the idea and left him for dead.

Batman – The War of Jokes and Riddles | Comics

Batman came in slightly late to stop this and chased Joker knowing Riddler will survive the gunshot wound. It was from that moment when Edward Nygma started amassing super-villains to fight by his side against the maniacal clown.

Evil that inherited Gotham has parted into two and started ripping each other. Joker tells Carmine Falcone over phone to kill Riddler but when his men failed to do so because of the intervention of Poison Ivy, the clown took out all his men and operation as well before killing his mother Carmen.

A common criminal and former associate of The Joker named Charles Brown is approached by Batman to be a mole in his former boss's gang and set up a meeting. That plan flipped when Riddler figured it out and had him abducted by Clayface to confront about it and he also told this to Batman.

The meeting was a mess and Joker sends him to Batman wired with fake explosives while Riddler poisoned his son. With that tragedy becoming a motivation, Charlie eventually become the Kite-Man and thus, a new villain is born.

By then only Catwoman haven't joined any sides and as Gordon approached the villains for a truce, all they wanted was Batman. Deadshot and Deathstroke were sent to kill the Bat but they got busy trying to kill each other with the causality of 62 civilians in five days.

Batman finally managed to stop them and got Floyd Lawton hospitalized in a fit of rage. He then plans to do something that even the Riddler never saw coming and the endgame of his decision would made him what he is today.

It all begin in issue #24 of the third ongoing volume of Batman, where The Dark Knight finally proposes Catwoman to marry him and before she can answer, he decides to let her know of an event that no one else knows about. Writer King took a unique approach in exploring Batman's early years with two of his arch-nemesis on his tail.

Joker Vs. Riddler

The storyline collects issues #25-32 from the third Batman monthly series from DC Comics and features appearances of the villains including Clayface, Cluemaster, Deadshot, Deathstroke, Firefly, Killer Croc, Kite-Man, Mad Hatter, Man-Bat, Mister Freeze, Mister Zsasz, Penguin, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Solomon Grundy, Two-Face and Ventriloquist, aside from the two main antagonists.

Even though the story is told in the DC Rebirth era, the events of the book actually took place not long after the infamous "Zero Year". Coincidentally, that is also the rising point of both The Joker and Riddler in the Prime Earth continuity.
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In order to cure Harvey Dent to get rid of his villainous Two-Face persona, The Dark Knight takes on a cross-country trip!

In New Jersey, Auggie Mac's Diner was having a sunny summer day with its regular customers and patrons but then suddenly Batman comes crashing down through the window with two other hired guns; Firefly and Killer Moth following his tail.

He makes a quick work of them both by wrapping the former in his cape and incapacitating the latter by stabbing into his wrist gauntlet as they were about to threaten the lives of civilians present there. Before he catches his breath, two mechanical arms of the mercenary and former Suicide Squad member Black Spider pulls him from behind.

He throws Batman into a nearby picket fence after dragging him off the diner thinking him outgunned but soon, The Dark Knight comes back at him with a chain saw to take him down. Firefly recovered and came back to take a shot at him when he is engaged but ran with tails between his legs after receiving a cold stare from the Bat.

Batman then finds himself up against the mob of locals seeking a bounty on his head and Two-Face appears from behind. As the crowd shoots him down, Batman quickly grabs Harvey Dent and cutting all communications, hits the road in a truckers' rig.

All Star Batman – My Own Worst Enemy | Comics

It all started a while ago when Gotham's former District Attorney and an old friend of Bruce Wayne; Harvey Dent reaches out to him for his help to locate a formula which would allegedly got rid of his twisted Two-Face persona and cure him forever.

Despite his own doubts and Alfred's protests, Bruce decides to help his old buddy anyway to give him a chance to become normal again and takes off with Dent in his Batplane to a 500 miles long journey. Dent's alter ego secretly puts a back-up plan of causing an acid rain over Gotham in motion to make sure Batman never succeeds.

In addition, Dent's alter ego made an open offer to anyone who would stop them from reaching destination of paying a combined fortune of Gotham's three biggest crime lords and then a missile is fired at the Batplane, which knocks it down.

This is how they ended up on New Jersey earlier and now the Caped Crusader comes face to face with the crowd of heavy-hitters like Amygdala, Killer Croc and King Shark in his road-trip. This trio of muscles tried their best to crush their enemy into puddle for that huge stack of cash dent offered but they all eventually sought defeat one by one.

Moments later, Cheshire and Copperhead sneak attacks on Bats with poison darts, forcing him to jump off the train they were travelling. Upon resurfacing, more men came out of nowhere and shot Batman down before transporting them to a new location.

Meanwhile, Black Mask, Great White Shark and The Penguin of Gotham Organized Crime secretly meets master assassin Anatoli Knyazev AKA The Beast for a road kill. He agrees to one condition and asks them to clear the mess he is going to leave behind for this job. What these crime bosses didn't know is how messy it is going to be.

Batman's new young sidekick Duke Thomas played an important part in the main story and in additional sub-plot as vigilante hero The Signal. Also, the Caped Crusader went against Court of Owls, acting as Dent's goons while lesser-known villain Gentleman Ghost and Royal Flush Gang had a cameo appearance in the entire plot.

The key focus shifts on the menacing bad guy Anatoli Knyazev, once known as KG Beast and is seen as most ruthless than any iteration of him ever played before. This is probably because he is now a part of Batman legacy in DC Extended Universe and was quite intimidating in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
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After a year-long absence from everyone’s eyes and almost with no activity at all, The Joker; Clown Prince of Crime, resurfaces again in Gotham City. Previously, he willingly allowed Batman to capture him and send him to Arkham Asylum, where he has the Dollmaker cut out the skin off his face and pinning it onto the wall of his cell (Faces of Death).

Batman – Death of the Family | Comics

He appears at the Gotham City police station exact one year later to shock everyone and brutally kills the 19 officers present on duty except Commissioner Jim Gordon, while cracking jokes and collects his ice-preserved face before leaving for his comeback party. Batman is lured to a trap set in Ace Chemicals where he first encountered The Joker, only to find his former lackey and girlfriend Harley Quinn in original Red Hood’s disguise.

Meanwhile, The Joker secretly sneaked into the Wayne Manor and kidnapped Alfred Pennyworth to serve him in his grand scheme and he left clues about his next target Commissioner James Gordon. Soon, The Joker starts taking lives using his old nasty methods methods but this time, he only wants to take out the entire Bat-family, except Batman, so that without any partners, he could be a better and much more worthy opponent for The Joker.

He also slipped a hint of having the knowledge of the secret identity of each vigilante member of the Bat-Family, which has shaken the entire line of Batman's crime fighting aid. He also secretly contacts other villains like Penguin, The Riddler and Two-Face, gathering them all for some sinister purposes that are still unknown.

Batman – Death of the Family is the tie-in of the crossover containing issues #13-17 from the second volume of the Batman monthly ongoing series set in the Prime Earth continuity by Snyder and Capullo.
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Saturday, October 4, 2014

Notoriously psychotic Gotham City criminal, The Joker was taken to Arkham Asylum for criminally insane after being captured by Batman where he got his face carved out by the psychotic villain known as Dollmaker and pinned his face to the wall (Faces of Death). He made a surprising comeback after a year to execute his new twisted plot of mayhem and returns to the scene.

Death of the Family | Comics

He collects his own face from the police station and kills the all officers present there, leaving only Jim Gordon as a witness for his vicious murderous rampage. After killing John Claridge, the son of his first recorded victim on live television by shooting him in the head, he issues a threat to kill Mayor Hady by midnight and even though Batman’s intervention, he kills all but Hady with his signature Joker venom.

The Joker approaches Catwoman to suggest her of becoming an arch-enemy for him instead of being a love interest but she refused him anyway. Next, the maniac visits his girlfriend Harley Quinn at Suicide Squad member Deadshot’s funeral and abducts her. The clues left by him led Batman to his birth place; ACE Chemical Plant, where a frightened Harley Quinn expresses her concern about his return.

Upon returning home, Bruce realizes that his trusty butler Alfred Pennyworth is also abducted by the maniac. To their horror, the sidekicks realize that Joker knows their true identities and pose a major threat to all of them. Apart from haunting Batgirl and Nightwing, he also tormented the group of Red Hood and the Outlaws as well as the young heroes of Teen Titans.

After the “Court of the Owls” storyline, followed by The New 52 epic “Night of the Owls” crossover event, the current sensation in Batman franchise, writer Scott Snyder (American Vampire, The Wake) and artist Greg Capullo (Haunt, Spawn) brought up the greatest new age Joker story, Death of the Family from DC Comics in 2012. Joker's portrayal in this New 52 timeline seems even greater than of Heath Ledger as Joker in the movie The Dark Knight (2008).

Guess Who's Back

The storyline is also a reference to the iconic Batman graphic novel “A Death in the Family”, tying monthly ongoing title Batgirl, Batman and Robin, Catwoman, Detective Comics, Nightwing and Suicide Squad to the core point of the tale.
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